A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
by XarluLunete
Summary: -Though when Sei sees a photograph of himself, he can only think of five: 'oh my god, what, no.'


**Made specifically because I'm a child that wants Aoba and Sei to have more to time with each other to be brothers.**

**Disclaimer- it's come to my realization that I, in fact, do not own DRAMAtical Murder. Sadly, it's Nitro-Chiral's property. I do however, claim adoption to most of the characters in the game. :3**

* * *

Aoba makes his way quietly down the hall, a digital camera in hand. This morning, he's on a mission. In a mission of this nature, he would probably use his coil instead of the slim brick in his hand to take pictures.

However, his mission is a dangerous one and should the device he uses get into the wrong hands…

More than likely, it'll be destroyed.

He isn't willing to take that risk with his coil, oh no. So instead, he purchased the ancient, outdated camera cheap at Haga-san's shop, specifically for this kind of occasion a week or so ago.

The blue-haired man stops and presses his body against the wall near a door that is cracked open, a soft humming coming from within.

Target in range.

He turns the camera on and jumps when the thing beeps.

The humming stops.

'Shit!' Aoba mouths to himself, pressing himself tighter to the wall, almost willing his body to dissolve into it. 'Nonononono, don't open the door, oh, fuck…'

A minute later, the humming starts again, as if nothing had happened.

Hazel eyes glare down at the camera. He almost got _caught_ because of the forsaken thing, dammit!

Time is slowly running out. His time window was not a small one; on the contrary, the window was nice span of thirty minutes. But, Aoba spent twenty-five of those minutes trying to get himself to actually _do_ his self-assigned mission.

It's now or never.

He trains the camera on his target, his older brother Sei who has his back turned, and grins.

_Gotcha._

Readying his finger on the button, Aoba pushes the door open.

"Hey, nii-san~"

Sei turns around, eyeliner in hand. "Huh?"

Black eyes widen.

Click.

Mission accomplished.

Now, for his escape.

"Thank you!" The younger of the two says sweetly before turning on his heel and making a mad dash for his room.

"Aobaaa…" Sei's usually soft voice has a dangerous edge to it now, which only spurs Aoba to actually _run_.

Dealing with Sei in the morning is already a dangerous task: the man wakes up for _no one_ and when he does decide to get up, it's better to steer clear of him until he's completed his hour and a half morning ritual.

Something that Aoba had just interrupted, and at a crucial part as well (according to Sei): make-up application.

Now his usually soft-spoken brother is out for blood and the photograph that is currently in his possession.

Sei, being a shy, wallflower-esque individual, absolutely _detests_ having his picture taken unless it's a case where he has no other choice. After the picture is taken, however, he'll forever complain about terrible he looks. Something about his facial expression, something about his hair looking weird. Anything.

So, in cases where cameras are randomly pulled out for candid photos, the dark-haired man will do anything to avoid them. Leave the room, cover his face, turn his head… in some cases, he might even attempt to _take_ the camera away, just so he won't be photographed.

Naturally, this drew forth the urge in Aoba to take pictures of his twin, purposely in the most random situations. Eating, half awake (oh, Sei would _kill_ him if he were aware of those), even just passing by each other in the street by chance. This has been happening for roughly a week.

Though today, he _may_ have crossed the line, because one thing is certain: he may be the weakest, the most fragile of the two of them…

But Sei Seragaki, when truly, deeply angered or with the right amount of determination; is a force to be reckoned with.

Hearing his brother catch up with him quickly, Aoba all but dives into his room and slams his door shut, using his body as a barricade.

From Aoba's bed, Ren (who probably showed up while he was out getting Sei's picture) stared at him questioningly, amber eyes displaying amusement and confusion. "Aoba, are you-"

There's a hard _thump_ on the door, followed by Sei _commanding_ from the other side.

"Aoba, open this door, _now_!"

"Ren, help me!" He pleads, looking and sounding like he doesn't know whether he should be laughing or crying hysterically.

Ren presses himself against the door just as it lurches again.

"What did you do?" He asks.

Aoba smiles sheepishly. "You know how I've been taking pictures of Sei with the camera Haga-san gave me, right?"

The taller of the two nods.

"Well, I may have… uhm… just taken a picture of him… while he was doing his make-up…"

"Aoba?"

The door is pounded on again.

"Yeah?"

"Do you have a death wish? Because that sounds like the actions of a man that feels like he has nothing left to gain or lose in his life." Ren states bluntly, looking genuinely concerned.

Aoba sputters. "Well, obviously _not_ if I'm trying to keep Sei _out _of here!" He exclaims, shocked and just a little angry at the other's conclusion. "I'm just proving a point to him _since he acts like such a girl over getting his picture taken!"_ He raises his voice when talking about Sei, intending for his older brother to hear him as well.

"I do _not_!" Sei pounds on the door more. "Now open this door, you brat!"

"Oh, _I'm _the brat?!"

"You're both brats." A new interjects and both Aoba and Ren cringe when they realize it's Tae. They hear Sei utter a tiny 'ow'. "Aoba. Ren. Open the door. _Now."_

The two back away and turn to the door.

"Ren." Aoba hands the digital camera to him. "Guard this with your life."

Ren stares at the device in his hands like it offends him.

However, when Aoba opens the door to reveal Tae with a deep scowl on her face and Sei rubbing the back of his head where she hit him, Ren deftly puts it into his back pocket.

"Alright."

"So," Tae seats herself at the table in the kitchen. "I want to know _why_ I am hearing the two of you yelling and running around upstairs at seven in the morning." She levels both Aoba and Sei, who are conveniently seated across from their grandmother with a glare as they nurse their heads.

"Aoba tried to take a picture of me while I was getting ready…" Sei says quietly, giving his younger brother a dirty look.

"I'm only getting evidence so I can prove a point to you." Aoba replies, folding his arms on the table and setting his chin in the space his arms made.

"Sit up." Tae snaps, whacking her youngest grandson on the head with a wooden spoon and making him yelp. "You're far from a teenager, so don't act like one. What exactly _is_ this all-important point that you want to prove to your brother?"

He sits up, wincing against the sting of where the wooden spoon hit. If he can't act like a teenager, why is _she_ treating him like a kid?

"Sei always gets so self-conscious about having his picture taken that he avoids them as much as humanly possible-"

"I am _not_ self-conscious-"

"Let your brother speak, Sei."

Sei leans back in his chair and crosses his arms, pouting slightly.

After waiting a few seconds to make sure he wouldn't be interrupted again, Aoba continued. "So I've been taking pictures of him whenever I could. Just random, spur of the moment pictures. Some of them are blurry, others I have my finger covering part of the lens, and _none_ of them flatter Sei in any way, shape, or form." At this, he grins at his older brother who still continues to pout.

A flash goes off and all eyes turn to Ren, caught with the camera in his hands.

"I'm sorry. I couldn't help myself." He apologizes, looking strangely unapologetic.

Tae snatches the camera and presses a few buttons before getting to the gallery, which indeed is filled with pictures of Sei.

"But they're to show him that it's not about how you look or how pretty your smile is when the camera goes off, but the memories that stay with the pictures." Aoba finishes.

"Well, that certainly is a good point." Tae can't help but smile at the picture Ren recently took.

It only happened a few minutes earlier, but seeing Aoba's cheeky grin and Sei's pout reminds her of when they were kids.

Sei would come tugging on her skirt, whimpering about his twin being mean to him and Aoba would be right behind him, calling him a tattletale, proclaiming Sei is the mean one, and sticking his tongue out at the boy.

All she could do was breathe through her nose, smile, and tell them that it could be worse; that they could be separated and lonely rather than having each other's company to cherish.

She'd always find them passed out in their shared bed at bedtime, clinging to each other the night she spoke to them.

"But, your brother has the right to not like having his picture taken. Heaven knows I don't enjoy it myself. It's all a matter of preference, Aoba." She shuts the camera off and gives it back to Ren. "Nor do I enjoy the two of you starting World War III over it. In the early morning, no less!"

"Sorry Granny…" The two say in unison, hazel and black eyes cast downward.

"I don't want to have to revisit this, do you two understand me?"

"Yes, Granny…"

"Good." Tae stands up slowly. "Oh, Aoba. Isn't about time that you leave for work?"

Aoba checks his coil and scrambles out of his seat when he realizes that he need to leave, or rather needed to leave a few minutes ago.

As he runs upstairs to get his bag and jacket, Ren stands up. "I should leave as well, then."

"Should I expect you to be over for dinner tonight, Ren?" She asks, already planning for dinner.

"No, I don't believe so. I remember Yoshie-san saying something yesterday about needing me to work late today. However, I'll call if she says otherwise." Ren says, a small frown appearing as he mentions his employer.

"Alright, then." Tae then turns her attention to Sei. "Don't you have somewhere you need to be as well?"

"Ah, yes. I'm going to be meeting up with Mizuki in a few hours so we can discuss him giving me a job at the Black Needle."

She scowls a little at the thought of her grandson working at a bar, but takes comfort in the fact that she knows that Mizuki is a good man.

Aoba rushes back down, giving Tae a peck on the cheek, a hug to Sei, and a hurried "I'll be back later" to them both as he leaves, Ren following him in his wake.

Sei goes to head upstairs to finish what little he has left to do of his make-up, but is stopped by Tae.

"Come back here for a second, Sei."

He walks back over to where his grandmother is, confused. "Yes?"

"Lean down."

Still confused, Sei complies regardless, bending at the waist so he is eye to eye with Tae.

She grabs the hem of the apron she's wearing and begins wiping at her grandson's face. "You're using too much blush. You're going for a job interview, not to sell yourself on the street, right?"

Sei's pale complexion quickly turns pink at his grandmother's blunt comment. "Yes, ma'am..."

"And be easy with the eyeliner! I don't want you coming out of this house looking like a raccoon."

"Granny, I_ know_ I'm not putting it on that thick."

Tae pulls back and observes her work, eyeing her grandson's face. "Hm. If you say so. But don't think I won't point you towards the sink if you come back down painted like a canvas."

Sei winds up coming home later than he expected. His interview with Mizuki only lasted an hour or so and the two ended up just talking. By the time Sei looked at his coil and noticed that it was almost time for dinner, the bar was just starting to get busy, so Mizuki had no problem with the other man taking his leave.

As he comes through the front door, Sei checks his coil again and breathes a sweet sigh of relief. Five minutes until dinner. He's safe.

He walks into the kitchen, expecting his grandmother to tell him to start setting the table, but is surprised to see her still doing prep work.

"Do you need any help, Granny?" He asks quietly as Tae acknowledges his presence.

"No, I don't need any help." She answers brusquely, slicing up a carrot. "I had an unexpected call earlier, so dinner's going to be late."

"Are you sure you don't want help, Granny?"

Tae snorts and puts the carrots aside, starting on a peeled potato. "I'm sure."

Sei smiles and gives her a kiss on the cheek before going upstairs to his room, lying down on his bed.

Almost as soon as he lies down, though, he gets right back up; curious as to whether his brother is home as well or not.

He walks down the hall to Aoba's room and quickly raps on the door before poking his head in.

"Aoba? Are you in here?"

Almost immediately, Sei spots his brother on his bed, headphones pulled over his ears.

He enters the room fully and walks over to Aoba's bed, wrinkling his nose when he realizes how _loud_ his twin has his music. Sei can easily hear the beat of the song he's listening to and can even make out some lyrics. It's a miracle he isn't deaf yet.

Looking at Aoba, Sei also realizes something else; the man is fast asleep. It's not unlike his brother to get so immersed into the music that he drifts off, but the sun hasn't even set, no one in the house has eaten, and his brother's out cold.

A grin forms on Sei's face as he notices the perfect time to exact his revenge.

_If Aoba wants to bug me when I'm caught off guard, then I'll bug him when he least expects it, too._

He pokes at Aoba's side, which initially does nothing. Waking either one of them is like trying to wake the dead.

However, after twenty-five years of living with him, Sei's learned that tickling his younger brother works wonders for trying to get him out of bed.

Sei continues poking at his brother's side, which makes him groan, squirm, and attempt to bat his assailant's hand away.

"Sssssstoooooop…" Aoba whines, eyes squeezed shut as he moves onto his back.

He doesn't relent, moving upward on his brother's torso to tickle his ribs.

At this point, Aoba's complaints have turned into small bits of laughter as he wakes up.

"Sei, Sei, sto-ahahahahahah-p! _Quuiiit_!" He flails around; trying to escape from his brother, but only succeeds in falling off of his bed and onto the floor, losing his headphones in the process as well.

"S-seriously, Sei! Qu-quit! _Pfffft_hahahaha! Oh, god, pl-please, my stomach hurts!"

"No, I'm getting payback for you taking a picture of me while I was in the middle of getting ready!" Despite his statement, Sei stops tickling Aoba, letting his brother sit up and catch his breath.

"I-it's… one picture, Sei. Let… it go…" He puts a hand to his chest and breathes deeply. "Ah, I feel… like I broke something, you jerk."

"You fell off the bed, not off a mountain." Sei remarks. "And according to you earlier, it's not just one picture, it's a whole bunch of them! Which brings me to the question: where's the camera?"

Aoba flops onto his back, somewhat ashamed that it's just now that he's catching his breath. "I don't have it. Ren does."

The older of the two flushes a light shade of pink. "Oh, I see, so you're having him play guard."

"That's one way of putting it, yeah. Besides, now that you know what I used to take the pictures with, it's not safe to keep the camera here."

Sei gives a leery look. "What _are_ you planning to do with those pictures?"

"Mmmn," Aoba shows his brother an impish smile. "I can't tell you. It'll ruin the surprise."

He lets out a startled yelp as Sei starts tickling him again.

One month passes and the incident is almost completely gone from Sei's memories.

That is until he comes home one night after his shift at the Black Needle and finds a binder stuck in the arms of one of Sei's many stuffed animals that adorn his bed.

On the binder, there's a note: '_Digital data is deleted and these are the only printed copies of the photos. Pfft, and you called me a terrible younger brother!'_

Sei feels a sense of horror when it dawns on him just _what_ the binder contains.

Though, curiosity killed the cat and he caves, flipping through the pages.

As he looks through, he notices that most of the pictures have commentary written near them. He sees that the picture Aoba took a month prior has _'aww, nii-san you don't need make-up you're already pretty'_ written next to it in light blue and doesn't know whether he should go hug his twin or smother him with his own pillow.

Shortly after seeing the comments, it also comes to Sei's attention that not everything is written in the same color.

Near the picture Ren took, there's a small chain of comments written in three colors. One written in dark blue says _'My finger slipped, honestly.'_ with another in Aoba's light blue replying _'yeah, on the flash button maybe'_. Over top the photo there's also a comment written in an unexpected peach that says _'You two should have grown out of these facial expressions when you were 12.'_

When Sei sees a picture of himself slouched over the bar top of the Black Needle with the most painfully bored expression ever, he loses all of the color in his face and gains it back tenfold in record time.

Of course, there's a comment from Aoba- _'baby's first night as a bartender (too bad it was also a slow night)', _but there's another comment as well.

One written in maroon.

Sure, it's only something in retaliation to Aoba: _'youre just jealous because he holds his liquor better than you, aoba.'_, but it still doesn't change the fact that if that comment belongs to who Sei thinks it belongs to, then…

_Mizuki's probably seen this whole binder_.

Sei closes the binder and tucks it under his pillow.

_This album needs to find its way into a big, angry fire. Soon._


End file.
